The 10 most shorted ASX stocks plus the biggest risers and fallers – Week 22
Short sellers pile into the ASX's most battered names as Lotus Resources, Healius, Elders and Bapcor extend their brutal selloffs.
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Mentioned
Welcome back to the Short Seller Series – A recap of the most heavily shorted stocks on the ASX and those experiencing significant changes to short interest over the past week.
Short selling data is four days behind today's date because reporting is not mandatory until three business days after the trade. The tables below will compare:
Week-on-week changes between 12 and 18 May 2026
Month-on-month changes between 20 April and 18 May 2026
Most covered and rising short tables record week-on-week changes of ~0.5% or more
Most Shorted
Short interest in Lotus Resources has hit record levels almost daily since mid-April, when prior production results and were retracted and management changes were announced at Kayelekera. The stock tumbled 34% on the day of the announcement (30-Apr) and has fallen a further 23% since. Macquarie noted an $85 million cash balance at 31 March against $38 million of operating cash spend in the March quarter, implying just one to two quarters of runway before potential financial difficulty. Boss Energy has also seen a notable build in short interest, with ongoing concerns around its Honeymoon project where a pending feasibility study may point to a smaller, lower-margin asset than previously forecast.
Ticker | Company | Short % | Week-on-Week | Month-on-Month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Lotus Resources | 17.16% | 1.15% | 6.15% | |
Domino's Pizza | 15.63% | 0.08% | 0.08% | |
Telix Pharmaceuticals | 14.98% | -0.29% | -1.18% | |
Boss Energy | 14.33% | 1.07% | 2.77% | |
Guzman Y Gomez | 14.08% | 0.21% | 0.19% | |
Polynovo | 13.62% | -0.75% | -0.38% | |
Treasury Wine Estates | 13.47% | 0.62% | 0.50% | |
Zip Co | 11.55% | -0.66% | -0.35% | |
Droneshield | 11.45% | 0.36% | -0.09% | |
Car Group | 11.15% | 0.45% | 1.90% |
Rising Shorts
More broadly speaking, short sellers are piling into some of the market's most battered names, many of which have delivered poor trading updates in recent weeks:
Healius: Trading at record lows and down 60% YTD, including a 22.6% selloff on 13 May after the company issued FY26 underlying EBITDA guidance of $259-264 million versus $271.4m consensus (a 4% miss). Management flagged that the Fair Work Commission's gender undervaluation decision will add $1.8 million to pathology labour costs in the June quarter, with further increases from January 2027. The Federal Budget delivered no new funding for pathology, leaving the sector operating under an indexation freeze for most tests.
Elders: Tumbled 22.9% on 18 May, erasing year-to-date gains and now down 11.5% for the year. The selloff followed a weaker-than-expected 1H26 result, with underlying NPAT growth of 13% to $37.9 million coming in ~20% below consensus. Management attributed the shortfall to both capitalised and non-capitalised investment required to run legacy and new platforms in parallel during the transformation programme.
Bapcor: Down a remarkable 92.6% year-to-date and continuing to make fresh lows. The stock fell 18.5% on 14 May after the company cut its FY26 guidance, citing Middle East conflict pressures, softening consumer sentiment, and elevated fuel and supplier costs.
Ticker | Company | Short % | Week-on-Week | Month-on-Month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
4DMedical | 8.49% | 1.94% | 4.28% | |
Healius | 9.66% | 1.58% | 1.76% | |
Lotus Resources | 17.16% | 1.15% | 6.15% | |
Australian Clinical Labs | 8.15% | 1.12% | 1.13% | |
Elders | 7.27% | 1.10% | 1.53% | |
Boss Energy | 14.33% | 1.07% | 2.77% | |
Bapcor | 10.86% | 1.01% | 2.51% | |
Paladin Energy | 10.37% | 0.96% | 1.15% | |
Catalyst Metals | 4.48% | 0.89% | 0.92% | |
Arafura Rare Earths | 4.98% | 0.82% | 1.83% | |
Web Travel Group | 5.73% | 0.80% | 1.59% | |
Immutep | 3.41% | 0.63% | 2.01% | |
Treasury Wine Estates | 13.47% | 0.62% | 0.50% | |
Sonic Healthcare | 6.10% | 0.53% | 0.92% | |
Southern Cross Gold Consolidated | 3.19% | 0.52% | 1.08% | |
The Lottery Corporation | 4.38% | 0.51% | 0.90% |
Most Covered
On the most-covered front there was little of note, with Elevra Lithium pulling back after a quick round-trip (down 20% over four sessions before recovering the full move just five sessions later).
Ticker | Company | Short % | Week-on-Week | Month-on-Month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Elevra Lithium | 3.57% | -1.67% | -2.13% | |
Premier Investments | 2.60% | -0.86% | -0.62% | |
Inghams Group | 8.02% | -0.83% | 0.43% | |
Polynovo | 13.62% | -0.75% | -0.38% | |
Orora | 5.09% | -0.70% | -0.61% | |
Zip Co | 11.55% | -0.66% | -0.35% | |
Sun Silver | 1.87% | -0.64% | -0.30% | |
NextDC | 8.66% | -0.62% | -0.32% | |
Core Lithium | 0.94% | -0.61% | 0.31% | |
Iress | 0.87% | -0.51% | -0.69% |
